Julia drew her chair close to Marie's, put down her yet unlighted cigarette, and looked at her friend shrewdly.
"Look here, kiddy," she began, with a softness Marie had never heard in her voice before. Then she stopped and asked: "Where's the brandy?"
"There isn't any," said Marie in a far-away voice; "there's only Osborn's whisky, and that's horrid. I'll be all right soon. Make the coffee, dear, will you? And make it strong."
Julia not only made the coffee strong, but she made it very quickly; she had a wonderfully quiet, efficient way of accomplishing things. The coffee stimulated Marie and steadied the erratic beating of her heart.
"That's better," she said.
Then Julia was modern enough to ask without preliminary that question which had asked in Mrs. Amber's elderly heart all day.
"Marie, are you going to have a baby?"
Marie could not have been more confused and confounded.
"I!" she stammered. "Have a baby! I never thought of such a thing!"
"It's not an unknown event," said Julia; "it has been done before. Think!"